The Journey A Little Mixed Up- Gideon part 2 9-7-13 Judges 6:25-40 (Message) Take a read on it. When I have asked students about “Prayer,” here are some of the comments I get: “we need to be careful how we talk to God. “You don’t complain to God, question God, or ask God for things that God hasn’t already encouraged you to ask for.” (I was intrigued by that one) I admit, when I talk to God I have asked for things, lots of times. Sometimes He grants them, sometimes He does not. And when I question God, the response I sometimes get (I feel it at least) is, “Bill, stop talking, be quiet.” But, at least that suggests the relationship is real, with give and take. Gideon asks and gets it. We are given first a more specific picture of the “waywardness” (word study) that characterizes people in Gideon’s area. Point, each of these stories in Judges relates to a particular geographical area; one does not need to assume that the wrongdoing directly involved the people as a whole, and neither does the trouble that follows. Gideon’s clan settle west of Jordan, and his home is not far from Shechem. There in Israel’s heartland Gideon’s city (actually a village) is given over to the worship of the Master. So the sanctuary in the village is dedicated to him, and there is the kind of sacred column alongside the altar that you would regularly have in a Canaanite sanctuary. The word for a sacred column is actually asherah, which came in Judges 3:7 as the name of a goddess; the idea is likely that the column is a wooden image that represents the goddess who stands alongside the god as an object of worship. Israel just can’t keep it together with Yahweh. Amazing. What is Gideon’s first challenge? DESTROY these objects of worship and replace them by ones “proper” to people who are committed to Yahweh. Okay, here is the “mixed up” part. He does exactly what Yahweh says but makes a point of doing it when NO ONE is looking, even though Yahweh seems to want a very public action: the new altar is to be built on TOP of the “refuge,” the place where the people hid from the Midianties. You catch it? It will be a PUBLIC demonstration of the DETHRONEMENT of the “Master” and the recognition of Yahweh. Interesting enough, trying to be discrete doesn’t stop Gideon from being discovered, as when Moses tried to kill a man secretly but got found out. His fear is quite reasonable; his whole family and his whole community are committed to the Master. Go figure. It is fascinating to me that Gideon’s action (and maybe to protect his son) drives Joash (his father) into abandoning his commitment to the Master and challenges the village to do so as well. NEXT POINT that jumped out at me, with the coming of the next political crisis for the community and the wider clan of Manasseh when Midian invades again. What happens to Gideon? What needs to happen to ALL of us, frequently. God’s Spirit “clothes itself in Gideon.” My word study says some translations have God’s Spirit coming on Gideon as if the Spirit is the clothes, but it is Gideon who is the clothes. You can’t see the Spirit; what you can see is Gideon behaving like someone who has new POWER & dynamic inside, transformed from someone too scared to take on his village into someone who will take on Midian! Just to be sure, what does Gideon do? He asks for another SIGN of God’s involvement with him, this time a sign that his “sense” of being taken over by God and his starting to do things that he could never have imagined doing is not just his imagination. I LOVE it, when God grants that sign, and Gideon realizes it need not have been so miraculous, he asks for a THIRD sign, and God (He must have sighed, or a least grinned, right?) grants that one too. LESSON in all of this right church? For me, today, after this particular journey in Scripture, one can know that we don’t have to hesitate over asking outrageous things from God, things we shouldn’t need even. By all means be respectful to God; Gideon reminds me of Abraham praying for Sodom in Genesis 18, right? By no means assume that God will grant your outrageous request. There is no guarantee that God will. He will listen, absolutely. And, He just might. (Remember Luke 11, take a read on it). So, it’s a shame NOT to ask, seriously. One final thought, have you ever entertained doubt, in God? Be honest. I have and it’s okay, really. Our attitude to doubt (in my opinion) is that what ultimately MATTERS is not whether you are doubting or believing in God but whether you are doubting and believing in the REAL God. It’s okay that Gideon is doubting Yahweh; the IMPORTANT thing is that it is Yahweh he is doubting, not the “Master.” Think about it gang, even in DOUBT he is turning to Yahweh, NOT to foreign gods! Stay strong, stay reading, stay in “faith,” and keep on keeping on! Love you gals and guys, pb
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 11:28:08 +0000
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